I recently bought a pair of vintage Axiom subwoofers. The name plate sticker on the speaker identifies them as AX120 Sub as seen in the picture below (as long as I loaded the pictures right).

I cannot find anything on the internet to show me how to wire the speakers. I phoned the Axiom support line and he had never heard of the speakers and did not have any data on them either.

I did find one brochure copy on the following Axiom webpage http://www.axiomaudio.com/images/HomeTheater_AX.jpg but it does not show my exact speaker and it talks about an active subwoofer whereas mine are passive. The are 4 sets of input/output posts as shown in the pictures below with no indication on the speaker as to what the function is of any of the posts.

Before I start to test wire them and try to figure this out via trial and error I am asking if anyone has seen these before and can give me some hints as to what to wire where.

I am surprised that Axiom has no data on these speakers even though they are old.

You would want to run speaker wire from the amplifier/receiver L and R terminals to the corresponding two L and R terminals on the subwoofer labelled INPUTS.

Then connect separate speaker wire from the left and right terminals labelled OUTPUTS on the subwoofer to the binding posts on your corresponding left and right speakers.

The problem I see is the INPUT AND OUTPUT terminals are not labelled on the subwoofer. If I had to guess the bottom two are the INPUTS and the top two are the OUTPUTS...this is just a guess...it could be the other way around.

PS. Also remember maintaining consistent polarity with all this wiring is critical.

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I’m armed and I’m drinking. You don’t want to listen to advice from me, amigo.

These subs are so old (30 years-plus) I don't remember seeing them, although the model number rings a bell (from audio-video equipment directories I edited in that time for Sound Canada magazine).

BlueJay's advice is solid, but since there are no labels, you should either remove the rear panel of the speaker or the woofer, whichever is easier, and trace the wiring. In most speaker wiring schemes, the black lead (sometimes it's white!) is generally negative and the red lead is positive. Find the two leads that go from the input connections to the terminals on the driver. There may be an internal passive crossover. The input leads would go from the external connections to the crossover, then to the two terminals on the woofer. There may be a second pair of wires from the inside of the input connectors to the second set of connectors. The latter would be used to bypass the crossover and power your main speakers with a full-range (unfiltered) audio signal.

Bones, welcome. There was a previous discussion here relating to the AX 120 terminals. The picture there(apparently of a later version than the ones you have)shows that the output terminals are the top ones. It would seem likely that yours follow the same pattern.

You don't mention exactly how you're planning to use the two subs, but if you're thinking of setting them up as "stereo" subs(although there's actually little or no stereo bass in recordings), you'd connect just one of the stereo channels to each AX 120. If you then feed the front speakers from the speaker level outputs on the AX 120, apparently there's a 120Hz high-pass filter on those outputs, which'll roll the front speakers off below that frequency.

Thank you for your ideas. You are right that the problem is no labelling for the input or output terminals. My confusion goes further when I attempt to figure out why there are so many terminals on the speakers. The speakers are for my 16 year old son (I thought I would start him out on Axioms right away, albeit older ones)and I have planned to use both of the subwoofers along with a pair of AX2 bookshelf speakers utilizing the high pass filter that they apparently have inside.

JohnK`s response helped my thinking in that the four pairs of terminals must be for when you are using one subwoofer and filtering to two bookshelf speakers. Since I want to try one to one I will attempt what JohnK suggested and run one set of wires to one of the input terminals and then to the AX2. However now I have more guessing as to not only which is the input/output but also which of the pairs should I use for the one on one filtering I want to set up!

Although I wanted to avoid opening up the speaker for purely time managment issues I think I will have to do what Alan suggests and get my nose inside the units.

Thanks again.

BTW. It is hard to see in the pictures I posted but the polarity is clearly marked on the speakers. The black is negative and the red is positive so keeping the polarity consistent will be easy.

It doesn't appear that the second "guess" you mention is critical. If for example, you connect the left channel output of the receiver to either the left or right column of terminals and then on to the left AX-2, that AX-120 will play the left channel bass and that AX-2 the left channel higher frequencies.

I am honoured to have partially stumped you. I read your blog posts all the time and I have learned so much from them that you have reached near deity status around my household. To boot I am also old enough to remember you from your time with Sound Canada magazine!

Your suggestions are solid and I will go ahead and puzzle it out from the inside of the cabinet. I will post another time after setting up and doing some listening tests.